


Ace of Spades

by SakumaRei



Category: Homestuck
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-10-25
Updated: 2012-11-09
Packaged: 2017-11-17 00:10:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/545350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SakumaRei/pseuds/SakumaRei
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Sollux's sudden death is labeled a sucide, Karkat and Eridan start to suspect something else is going on in their small town. Their suspensions rise as more of their friends start to die.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Monster

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cendal](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cendal/gifts).



> Thanks to my editor Rolaltheatre@tumblr

Week One: Saturday

 

It was night time when Karkat heard the news. They kept asking and asking—he was tired of it. Tired of his dad hounding him over and over again, asking if he was okay, _will you be alright, son_? His father was being unusually soft spoken; it was absolutely sickening. No, Karkat Vantas didn’t need and didn’t want a pity party from his dad. He would rather him be his usual screaming self and leave him to his own devices.

 

“Oh, I heard you and him had a fight,” he said. “I just didn’t want you to think it was your fault. Sollux, he always had his problems.” A suicide, they had said. Ridiculous. Karkat didn’t even consider it a possibility—even with the issues he had. Trying to tell anyone else that it wasn’t true would result in questions like “What do you think, Karkat? A murder?” It didn’t matter what anyone thought: he still hadn’t done it. No, Sollux cared too much about people in his life to do something like that, although… when he thought about it, maybe his fight with him did have something to do with it. The thought made him twitch uncomfortably. He had expected sadness over this, but instead, most of his feelings were guilt. Not even over supposedly causing it.  Karkat didn’t want to deal with these feelings and the onslaught of questions coming from his dad’s mouth. He went to be early that night, if only to stop the questions.

 

 

“I’m not gonna ask. I’m sure you’vve gotten the wwhole song and dance by noww.” Eridan flopped down on the bed beside Karkat and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. Karkat looked at him, his eyes glazed over.  

 

 “Dude, what happened to your face?” He said, as he finally noticed the others cheek was red.

 

“Ah…” He placed his hand against the bright red mark across his right cheek. “I tried to comfort Fef, mostly out of obligation, I guess? She could probably tell. Wwe havven’t been on good terms in forevver, you knoww? So…” He rubbed his cheek. “Damn, she smacks hard.”

 

“Are you sure that’s it?” Karkat looked at him in worry. “You seem off.”

 

He shrugged. “Don’t knoww, maybe I look upset? She wwas sayin’ a bunch of nasty stuff to me too, called me a bunch of names. Sure I knoww, she wwas just upset but still, she’s ridiculous. I don’t see howw him dyin’ wwas my fault. It’s not like I killed him. She wwas tryin’ to say because I made him depressed, but man, wwe havven’t fought since wwe wwere like in middle school. It’s been like, fivve years?”

 

Eridan looked over at him then. “Sorry for bringin’ it up. I mean, you must be grievvin’ too.”

 

Karkat didn’t say anything and instead shifted away, burying his face in his arms and flopping on his stomach.

 

“Ah, yeah. Howw about I go get us some Burger King?” Eridan asked. Karkat nodded his head but leaped off the bed as he was about to leave.

 

“Wait, Eridan. Do you… think Sollux, you know, killed himself?” He was giving Eridan those eyes that could make him melt; they were wet and shining their red color and conveyed one hundred percent trust in Eridan’s opinion.

 

Eridan stared at him for a moment before shaking his head and grabbing his hand, pulling it off him. “No, I really, really don’t.” He turned and walked out the door, leaving Karkat to think that over. Soon, Karkat decided, soon he would tell Eridan how he felt, how much he loved him. He would kill to keep Eridan happy.

 

He sat back on his bed, his knees to his chest, and buried his face in them. As long as he had Eridan, he’d be safe.

 

 

Later, Eridan walked back into his room with the sweet loot. “Food,” he announced, dangling the bag near Karkat’s face and jerking the bag away as soon as he made a grab for it. “Same as alwways, Kar--just cheese, nothin’ good. Really, Kar, I mean, not evven a tomato?” he teased.

 

Karkat rolled his eyes. “Just give me the damn food Eridan,” he murmured, reaching up and snatching the bag out of his hands violently. He glanced into it and shook his head. “Eridan, there are four cheeseburgers in here.”

 

Eridan shrugged. “Wwell, Burger King alwways makes you feel better.” He flopped down on the bed so that his feet were hanging off the sides and crossed his arms behind his head. With a sigh he glanced over at Karkat, who was busy inhaling a burger like it was oxygen. He let out another breath before he breached the subject he wished they could avoid. “So… howw are you holdin’ up?”

 

Eridan’s breath caught in his throat when Karkat looked up, tears streaming down his face. It was very sudden.

 

“I’m a terrible, awful, worthless excuse for a human being,” he sobbed, hiding his face in his hands.

 

“No, you aren’t, Kar.” Eridan placed his hands on Karkat’s and pulled his hands from their position on his face. He moved to sit up in front of him instead of lying down. “You are absolutely none of those things, Kar,” he said sternly. He winced when Karkat looked up at him again and chocked out a few sobs.

 

“You don’t get it, Eridan! You don’t understand--” He was too overcome to finish the sentence. “Sollux is dead and I don’t even--I don’t even _care_!” Karkat lunged forward to wrap his arms around Eridan’s middle and bury his face in his neck.

 

“Wwhat do you mean, Kar?” Eridan rubbed his back soothingly. “It’s sorta obvvious you’re upset.”

 

“We had a fight, we’d been fighting for a long time, but this one was so big, and I said I’d quit being friends with him because I just couldn’t handle it.” His tears soaked Eridan’s shirt. “He was my best friend for years, but I can’t help feeling a little relieved he’s dead… What the fuck is wrong with me, Eridan?” He asked it so seriously that Eridan was alarmed. “Why can’t I be normal? Why? It’s like when I was little and that bully—and I…” He paused in his frantic rant to take a shuddering breath. “How fucked up was that, Eridan?” he managed to say, struggling to remain coherent through his hysteric sobs. “You remember that, right?”

 

Eridan pulled Karkat into his lap, hugging him tightly. “You wwere just a kid, Kar, wwe wwere all kids. You’re upset, it’s just shock, wweird emotions and feelins’ mixin’ around all wweird inside of you.”

 

Karkat brought his head up, tears still making tracks on his cheeks. Suddenly his mouth was pushing against Eridan’s and his hands were around his neck. Eridan wasn’t sure if it was appropriate to be making out with him while he was obviously in a distressed mood, but it was probably better to get his mind away from everything.

 

Eridan tugged him closer and wrapped his arms around his waist. The kiss was awkward with Karkat’s weeping that dampened Eridan’s face with tears. The boy in his lap shook and kissed him harder, his arms falling from his neck and lying by his sides. After what felt like forever, their lips disconnected and Karkat fell against him, his face in his neck. “I’m horrible,” he whispered.

 

Eridan knew that he couldn’t say anything to make him feel better, so they just sat there in silence. He sat there for half an hour, just rubbing Karkat’s back and running his fingers through his hair, before he spoke. “I’ll spend the night.”

 

Karkat sniffled. “Can we watch romcoms?” he asked, intertwining their fingers.

 

Eridan nodded and hugged him, falling on his side with Karkat still in his arms. He grabbed the Wii remote and turned on Netflix, playing the queue full of shitty romcoms.

 

He had a bad feeling that he couldn’t place. Whatever it was, he’d make sure Karkat was okay.


	2. Investigate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eridan and Karkat launch an investigation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pfft, sorry this is a week late! This won't happen again, hopefully.

Sunday Morning: Week One

Eridan had woken up an hour ago, tangled together with Karkat in a mess of limbs. Deciding it was better to let the other get some rest, he had promptly untangled himself and went to get Egg McMuffins. Normally, Karkat resisted sleep, but when he did eventually succumb to his natural urges he was hard to wake up; therefore Eridan hadn’t been worried in the slightest that he’d disturb his slumber. He had slipped on his shoes and exited the house, glad that he could think uninterrupted about the events of the past couple nights, and, sighing, he slipped into his car and started it up.

Eridan felt really at ease in the comfort of his car. This car… it had spoken to him when he went to purchase one. It bugged him a little that he might end up having to leave it. It was a four door Kia Optima EX, black on the outside, black on the inside. He didn’t know much about cars--he couldn’t tell you what the engine was like or anything about horse power--but he could tell you that his car never failed him. He sighed, knowing he was just thinking about the car to keep his mind away from the task at hand.

“Let’s see,” he wondered out loud as he started the drive to McDonald’s. “Next, I guess wwe… tell the police? No, they wouldn’t listen.” He mused on the best course of action for him and his friend to take. It wasn’t yet confirmed that they were going to do anything, but Eridan knew Karkat: he’d want to investigate. Karkat’s sorrow (lack of sorrow?) wouldn’t allow either of them to sleep well until they figured out what was going on. Eridan couldn’t claim he was upset about that predicament. He was curious as to what Karkat would find out. If he was being honest, he’d have to admit, he really hoped that the conclusion they reached would be suicide. After all, any alternative to that would cause trouble.

He shook his head looking at the time on the dashboard of his car. The green numbers flashed the time: 7:34. “Better hurry before he wwakes up on his own…” He turned on his signal light and pulled into the McDonald’s drive-thru.

 

Karkat was woken up by the feeling of a paper bag dropping on top of his head. "Ugh," he grumbled, swatting it away. The bag made a crumpling noise as it tumbled to the ground. "What are you doing?" he asked as he sat up in his bed, his fingers clutched around his red bed sheets. "Are you leaving?"

Eridan had to bite his lip to stifle his laughter. It was adorable how Karkat would be confused when he first woke up in the morning. "Kar, I already left and came back." He bent over and picked up the bag, dangling it in front of Karkat's face.

"I'm not falling for that two days in a row!" he hissed, letting go of the sheets and jerking the bag from Eridan's hand.

"You say, as you reach up and do the exact same thing you did yesterday."

"Bite me, Eridan.” He opened the bag. Eridan was about to reply that he would love to bite him, but Karkat didn't give him the chance. "Why do you keep buying me fast food?"

Eridan blinked a few times before smiling. "Why? You wwatchin' your figure, Kar?" he teased. "Besides, who said I bought it for you?"

"Well, somebody's being extra sassy today. Wonder who that is?"

Eridan shrugged. "I have no idea wwho you could be talkin' about."

"Sure you don't." Karkat grabbed his hand and tugged him down on the bed, pushing the bag away from his body. He moved onto his knees in front of him, his face level with his. "Eridan," he said, placing his hands on his shoulders, "about yesterday..."

Eridan swallowed, suddenly finding the McDonald’s bag interesting. "You gonna eat those?"

"Eridan..." Karkat held back a sigh. "Why didn't you buy more if you wanted some?" He moved away from him, falling on his rear.

"I didn't wwant any then," Eridan complained.

"Too bad!" Karkat tore off the wrapper and wolfed it down quickly. "All gone," he said, his voice muffled through the mouthful of Egg McMuffin.

"Noww wwho's bein' an ass, Kar? Hmm?"

"You say that like you knew who I meant last time," he said in mock shock. "I thought you didn't know who I was talking about?"

They both sit there in comfortable silence for a few moments, but the peaceful silence couldn't last forever.

"Wwe can't avvoid the subject forever, Kar."

"Why not?" Karkat grumbled.

"You know wwhy. Wwe gotta talk about it."

"What about it?"

Eridan shrugged his shoulders. "Howw are you? Still feelin' guilty for not feelin' guilty?"

The other chewed his lower lip. "A little bit.” He shifted uncomfortably and looked away. "What about Feferi?" he asked, if only to change the subject. "Did she seem okay?”

Eridan raised an eyebrow, but didn't question him. "I wwasn't around long enough to tell." He gave him a knowing look.

"I think I'll feel better if maybe we go look at his room? You know, look for anything suspicious?"

"I figured you'd say that." Eridan shifted. "Howw about wwe go later today? I need to call Dad and talk stuff ovver wwith him. Meet me at my house at eight."

Karkat nodded in agreement.

 

Sunday Night: Week One

When Karkat showed up at the front door to Eridan's home, he stood for a minute to observe it. He had been there so many times in his life, but the house had never looked so sad until the beginning of the year when Eridan's dad went overseas on business. There were no workers or siblings; Eridan spent his days and nights alone. When he really started thinking about it, he couldn't really pinpoint the people he spent a lot of time with. There was him, Vriska, Kanaya… Not so much Vriska in the past few years. It took a minute before he realized Eridan had arrived and was trying to discuss the plan with him.

"Kar," he said, a little loudly, waving a hand in front of his face. "Earth to Kar."

"Oh, sorry. I was thinking about something." He gave a reassuring smile.

"Okay…” Eridan smacked the palm of his hand against the others forehead lightly before moving it back down by his side. "Like I wwas sayin', I guess wwe'll just look around his room for anythin’ out of the ordinary…?" He trailed off, staring at the decorative bushes at the end of his lawn.

"Uh?"

"Mm." He chewed his lip, "Wwhat are you evven wwantin' to do?"

Karkat thought about it for a moment. "What do you mean?"

"I mean…" Eridan started walking down the sidewalk and out of his front gate. Karkat trailed along beside him. "So wwe invvestigate. Then wwhat do wwe do? Wwhat if he did kill himself? Wwhat wwill you do if he didn't?"

Karkat stopped walking and after a second Eridan stopped as well.

Eridan didn't say anything more as he stared forward. The cold air swished past him as he waited for Karkat's reply. His face was neutral leaning more towards somber, and his eyes revealed no hint at what answer he was expecting. The corners of his mouth twitched downward. He was worried about what would happen if the evidence concluded murder, and he had a feeling Karkat would do whatever it took to prove Sollux had been murdered. He knew that if Karkat looked hard enough, he would find the proof he so desperately wanted.

"I guess we tell the police?" he said, unsure, "but only if we can prove it. You know they won't waste their time unless we can cause some doubt."

Eridan turned to look at him and they gave each other a knowing gaze. He could see the love in his eyes, the love that he felt, and also received in return. He didn't know for sure, but he had a hunch they were both thinking the same thing.

They walked the rest of the way in silence.

 

Karkat was glad Sollux's dad didn't question them. All it took was a, "I was wondering if I could look at his room?" and a mumbled, "He had something of mine." His dad had nodded and left in obvious emotional distress.

Eridan wished he could muster up some sympathy for the man.

 

They closed the door to Sollux's room and glanced around wondering how and where to begin their search.

Eridan spoke first. "Wwoww, wwhat the fuck wwas wwrong wwith him? Look at this mess." Karkat shot him a look.

It was true, however, that Sollux's room was a mess, and even that was an understatement. The only clean part of the room was the yellow walls. "Oh, jeez.” Eridan kicked a pile of clothes sending them to scatter messily across the floor.

"Eridan, you can't just go around kicking things!" Karkat scolded him. "This is the scene of a crime!"

The floor had three more piles of clothes besides the one Eridan had kicked, scattered around the room randomly. The closet was wide open and piles of stuff were oozing out of it. The worst part of the room was his desk. On it there was one desktop computer, one laptop, a school notebook, random small devices, candy wrappers, and soda cans. Underneath the desk there was a mess of color coded cords and electrical cables.

Karkat walked over to the desk where the school notebook lay open. "Finished homework? Why would he do his homework if he was going to kill himself?" He gave Eridan a glance that shined with hope.

"Not so fast, depressed people aren't exactly rational. He could have done the homework before he decided on it."

Karkat sighed deeply, massaging his temples. Of course it couldn't be that easy. "Eridan," he started, "I thought you didn't think he killed himself?"

"I don't. but wwe havve to look at this in a professional manner. Wwe havve to see evverythin', not just wwhat wwe wwanna see."

Karkat knew that Eridan was right, but that didn't make the situation any easier. He hadn't realized until they stepped foot in Sollux's room just how difficult finding a clue would be.

"This is gonna be hard," Eridan stated, echoing Karkat's thoughts out loud. "Let's get to wwork."

After an hour of digging, nothing was turning up.

"I'd hate to tell you this Kar, but…" He paused, shoving his hands into his pockets and turning to look at him. His eyes were shining and his mouth fell into a perfect frown. Karkat was mesmerized. "I don't think wwe're gonna find anythin'."

Karkat's eyes widened and he covered his mouth, his eyes darted to the floor. "But..." he murmured, "it doesn't mean a thing! He still could have been murdered! Maybe the killer just--" He cut himself off. His eyes stared at Sollux's closet, where a playing card lay at the very top of the pile. "Why didn't we notice that?" He ran over quickly.

Eridan walked over after him. "Wwhat is it?"

"A clue!" he cheered. "A clue!" He picked it off the pile.

"Uhm, but it's just a playin' card." Eridan plucked it from Karkat's hand and turned it around in his hand. "Although," he said consideringly, placing his hand on his chin, his thumb pressing against the back of it and his index finger cradled around the front, "this is an off place for a card. I mean, did he even play cards?"

"More importantly, why is there only a single card and not an entire deck? It's just lying here alone. Too organized, too neat... maybe it's a mark? Like, when serial killers kill people?"

"Hmm…" Eridan rubbed the back of his head. "Let's not jump to conclusions, although the card is suspicious."

Karkat took the card back from him. "There’s something written on the back."


End file.
